Moran Woodworked Furniture

Telling the individual stories of each tree whose wood becomes our furniture is a fundamental part of our practice. Photographed here, a storm downed Pecan grew on the client's property overlooking Charleston's inter-coastal waterway. Now residing just a few steps away from that view, this custom Pecan sideboard uses bookmatched boards and negative space graphically for a storage solution with hand-turned legs and brass feet.

Michael's forged Japanese chisels cut all the traditional joinery we use in our designs, both limited edition and custom. Seen here are Walnut legs on the workbench mid process. Joinery is just one facet of our work which speaks to our passion for sustainability; one well built, timelessly designed piece should be able to serve its function for generations to come.

This unique two board bookmatched table top—with a pale sapwood lined, brass inlaid live edged center—from an urban salvaged Walnut grown in the Hudson Valley of New York, exemplifies the way in which our designs are tied to the particularities of each piece of sustainable, story-driven wood. Our bespoke services, from dining tables to sideboards, are always available on 1stdibs; please be in touch!

For an extensive collection of antique flatware, we designed this cabinet in traditionally charred South Carolina Loblolly Pine, with hand-made cylindrical black steel knobs and base. Our burning process, based on Japanese customs, entails binding three boards into a chimney for a controlled burn over a small firebox. All charred pieces have an environmentally friendly zero VOC water-based finish. Bespoke charred designs are available.

Mesmerizing bookmatches are a center piece of our bespoke work. As if you are watching a sunrise reflected on a still body of water, this bookmatch of urban salvaged Walnut—with both vertical and horizontal lines of symmetry—is set as panels into a pair of sliding doors, concealing or revealing, with a graze of the beveled copper finger hold, wine, cutlery and serving platter storage. Alongside sits a dining chair, also in Walnut.

A custom four board bookmatched South Carolina Walnut dining trestle table with center sapwood is paired with a set of eight hand-cut, traditionally joined chairs. Each moment of the design is considered for the use of the client, like the back rest height for the significant height difference in members of the client's family.

Every board we use retains its unique history as a tree; we aim to design with the characteristics of a specific board in mind. Here, the design was entirely a function of the quiddity of this particular Maple tree. The curly, spalted Maple floating entry table is built from a single live edged board with compound-cut angles and tapers for a fluid, continuous c-shape.

Entirely built with traditional, hand-cut joints, this bespoke Walnut desk—with a bookmatched top and center pale sapwood oval—includes several asymmetric drawers and a pull out keyboard tray, all faced with a single board of Walnut. All our Walnut has a colorless, environmentally friendly Tung oil finish which is rubbed on, coat after coat, by hand.

Both the Redwood Root Cabinet, on the left, and the Walnut Dragon Cabinet, on the right, feature distinctive bookmatched boards. When paired symmetrically, wood grain offers up unique, graphic patterns which are art in their own right. Our hope is to frame those moments simply in order to create functional furniture which does justice to the tree from which the wood came.

Michael Moran and Celia Gibson are Moran Woodworked Furniture. We welcome clients to our Hudson Valley, New York, home and workshop, where the two of us responsibly design and build each and every piece of our furniture and sculpture. Marrying modern designs with traditional building techniques, we hope to communicate our love of the natural world though each sustainable, elegant, functional work of art.